Operation Unthinkable

Operation Unthinkable was the codename of a battle plan made by the United States and the United Kingdom in the case of war with the Soviet Union immediately after the end of World War II in Europe in May 1945. The British and Americans wanted to create a square deal for Soviet-occupied Poland, and the Chiefs of Staff believed that the enormous size of Soviet forces in Europe proved a major threat to the democracies of Western Europe. The plan would have 47 Allied divisions (as well as Polish forces and possibly up to 100,000 German Wehrmacht soldiers) attack the area of Dresden in the middle of Soviet lines, beginning a surprise attack that would lead to a bloody war. The British saw the plans as unfeasible, and they preferred to bring down communism by peaceful means and not by starting another world war.